JUDGE for Yourself, created by three Glaswegian women, will be shown throughout the Commonwealth Games in a bid to highlight that a very different reality often lies behind a negative label.

Nancy Humphries, Nessie Howard and Mary Alice McLennan hope the film will dispel negative images of their local area (Photo: Robin Mitchell)

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A YOUNG man in a hooded top stares down the camera while clutching the lead of a dog, which is just out of frame.

The menacing image this conjures up is of a ned and his vicious animal.

But cut to the next shot and the hood is down and the dog is a Yorkie, in a pink bow, being cuddled by the young man.

The scene drives home the point made by Judge for Yourself, a short film created by three women as a tribute to their home of Bridgeton in Glasgow and areas like it across Scotland.

The film, which will be shown in public places throughout the Commonwealth Games, argues that a very different reality often lies behind a negative label.

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Nessie Howard, 66, Nancy Humphries, 76, and Mary Alice McLennan, 39, had no experience of film-making but the finished piece is a moving and refreshing take on an area stigmatised as violent and sectarian.

Nancy said the common portrayal is not a genuine reflection of the Bridgeton she has lived in her whole life.

She said: “I was fed up with all the negativity that I kept hearing and reading about my neighbourhood, from the Orange Order to youth brutality.

“People from outside see us as thugs and bigots, living in a place where old people are afraid to go out. I have never been afraid to go out.

“I think it’s disproportionate, it’s not accurate and it’s not fair. We have a fantastic close-knit community here, which looks after its residents.”

When Nancy shared her frustrations during a chance meeting with Pauline Kelly, of Glasgow Community & Safety Services, she felt that her views deserved a platform.

Through a team of professional film-makers at Media Co-op in Glasgow, the women were helped to write, film, direct and even cast the work.

Funding for the project was provided by The National Lottery, Community Safety Glasgow, Sense Over Sectarianism (SOS), the Scottish Government and Clyde Gateway.

It was Nancy who cast the hoodie, played by 17-year-old Nathan Archibald who comes from Easterhouse but now lives in Cranhill.

Far from being a hooligan, Nathan is charming and articulate. He spent his childhood caring for his sick parents, volunteers for youth groups and plans to study business and management.

He has first-hand experience of how an area and its people can become blighted purely by a bad reputation.

Bridgeton, Easterhouse and Cranhill are all areas that have been hit by poverty but Nathan believes any problems are compounded by prejudice.

He said: “When I wear a hooded top, people scowl and cross the street – but it’s just something practical to wear when it’s cold.

“It’s only a handful of people in hooded sweatshirts that are really bad.

“But regardless of what I wear, people make assumptions based on where I come from.

“Like the film, I want to change that perception. And I will do it by becoming a success. That is the pivot of my life.”

Mary Alice said: “Being labelled hurts you really badly. We want the film to be out there for people to hear our voice.

“People here are kind and very friendly, nothing like the bad reputation they are given.”

The area was once plagued by gang violence but that problem has dwindled and there is a strong sense of community.

The three women began the project by conducting a survey of their local and surrounding community to find out what residents and visitors thought were misconceptions of the area.

Gang violence, sectarianism and isolation, especially for older people, were the recurring themes and so they became the focus of the film.

In one scene, an elderly lady, June Blakely, looks forlornly from her window and we assume she is just another isolated pensioner forgotten by her community.

But we cut to some locals arriving at her door to take her out and we realise she had just been keeping a lookout for her friends.

Another scene shows a Rangers-clad father, played by Bridgeton man Peter Ewing, watching the match on his TV in the living room, when his little boy, played by Tyler Marklow, walks in wearing a Celtic scarf.

The dad shakes his head and takes the scarf from the child’s neck but he doesn’t cast it aside as we might expect – but places it on the wall beside his own Rangers memorabilia.

Nessie said she has struggled since losing her husband in September but the project was a welcome distraction.

She said: “I’m proud to have been involved in making this film. It has really helped me through a difficult time in my life.

“I love Bridgeton. I remember what it was like living here in the Forties and Fifties.

“I’ve brought my children up here and I’ve watched in recent times as the district has been regenerated.”

The area has been boosted by a multimillion-pound cash injection, which has seen new life breathed into the neighbourhood.

Former cinema the Olympia building, at Bridgeton Cross, had been in disrepair but has been completely renovated and now houses a four-storey education, leisure and business space, as well as a film archive.

The women say it is typical of the positive changes taking place in Bridgeton.